The customer service industry is evolving, and businesses must adapt. More than 80 percent of customer care leaders are investing in generative artificial intelligence to meet rising user expectations, manage increasing case volume, and control costs, according to McKinsey.
Generative AI uses large language models (LLMs) like GPT and Gemini to create human-like, high-quality content: text, images, audio, etc. It excels in content creation, conversational assistance, and language translation. This makes genAI a valuable tool for improving customer support by understanding and addressing customer intent.
Companies see high potential in genAI but struggle with targeting investments. We've identified three genAI for customer support use cases to maximize ROI:
1. Self-Service with GenAI
Sixty-seven percent of customers want to help themselves with self-service channels rather than wait for an available agent, according to Zendesk. Typical self-service experiences require users to search for and find information without additional support. They must test keywords and read through documents to find their answers. With genAI-enabled search engines, users no longer have to search for specific documents. Rather, they simply ask for an answer and instantly receive the information they need. Depending on the kind of self-service required, this technology can speed up the information retrieval process and reduce new support tickets.
AI enhances this process by allowing users to ask questions in natural language and receive instant, relevant answers. They use language models to interpret the query, search databases, and provide contextually accurate responses, regardless of keywords.
Integrating this technology into chatbots provides a human-like assistant that answers questions instantly and maintains meaningful dialogue by remembering past interactions. This improves overall relevance and efficiency.
2. Enhanced Support Agents
Customer support teams are often overwhelmed with support tickets, many of which involve repetitive questions. To manage this, agents create personal knowledge bases with predefined answers. However, complex cases still require extensive searching, reading, and expert consultation, leading to high resolution times. Agents with less experience are particularly susceptible to inefficiencies.
Combining search technology with genAI, companies can automate and streamline this process. AI-enhanced tools analyze customer inputs and suggest responses, which agents then review, edit, and send. This approach lowers the response time from 10 minutes to two.
3. Instant AI Translation
Companies with a global presence struggle to balance translation costs and time while meeting diverse language needs. GenAI addresses this by quickly and accurately translating queries into each agent's preferred languages and generating responses in the customer's language. This ensures clear communication during issue resolution.
Additionally, genAI provides on-demand translations of topics or documents, offering accurate content in each user's language in a single click. While AI might not fully replace human translators, it significantly enhances translation efficiency and accessibility, transforming business communication.
With 61 percent of customer service and support leaders under pressure to adopt genAI but unsure of its impact on key performance metrics, according to Gartner, the clear advantages make early adoption a compelling choice. They include the following:
- Reduced time to resolution (the average time from the creation of a customer ticket to its resolution). This metric, often defined in service-level agreements and therefore legally binding, is crucial for customer satisfaction. GenAI enhances this by swiftly scanning technical content to extract and deliver precise information. By automating responses, genAI can reduce ticket handling time by 25 percent to 50 percent, enhancing efficiency and service quality.
- Lower costs. Rising demand for omnichannel support is straining budgets, and 37 percent of companies are prioritizing support cost control, according to McKinsey. To cut expenses without compromising customer experience, companies can use genAI to provide users with instant, personalized responses to their questions based on documentation. This boosts ticket deflection and first contact resolution rates, leading to reduced support costs and improved efficiency.
- Ensuring constant support. Scaling your team for 24/7 support ramps up business costs by 60 percent to 100 percent, according to Zendesk. GenAI's cost-effective alternative provides the best of both worlds by powering chatbots, self-service portals, and knowledge bases to provide instant, comprehensive responses anytime. This technology ensures continuous support without added expenses or team burnout, meeting customer expectations in a digital-first world.
- Improved customer satisfaction. The days of "please hold" are behind us. Today's customers demand quick, accurate answers. Yet, with B2B buyers using an average of 10 channels, according to Salesforce, maintaining consistent interactions is challenging. GenAI enhances customer satisfaction by providing clear, comprehensive answers via chatbots, AI-augmented support agents, and self-service portals. It supports multiple languages and links to relevant documentation, accurately identifying user needs. This technology delivers personalized, contextual responses quickly, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
- Enhances language availability. Expanding internationally boosts sales but makes providing resources in customers' preferred languages challenging. GenAI translates content instantly, no matter the original or target language. This ensures that FAQs, chatbot replies, and help desk emails are comprehensible to all, enhancing support across global markets.
GenAI is revolutionizing customer support, with 70 percent of CX leaders reevaluating their strategies, according to Zendesk, due to the technology's benefits. Combining genAI with your knowledge center's information offers actionable, contextual insights, enhancing support for agents and customers alike.
Kelly Dell is content manager at Fluid Topics, a content delivery platform provider.